Reports: Marjorie Taylor Greene removed from House Freedom Caucus
Published 10:00 am Tuesday, July 11, 2023
WASHINGTON — Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been mum regarding her reported removal from the House Freedom Caucus last month.
According to NBC News, the ultraconservative Republican group voted overwhelmingly June 23 to oust Taylor Greene. Taylor Greene did not specifically address the revelation in a statement to NBC News.
“In Congress, I serve Northwest Georgia first, and serve no group in Washington,” she said in the statement. “My America First credentials, guided by my Christian faith, are forged in steel, seared into my character, and will never change. … I will work with ANYONE who wants to secure our border, protect our children inside the womb and after they are born, end the forever foreign wars, and do the work to save this country.
“The GOP has less than two years to show America what a strong, unified Republican-led Congress will do when President Trump wins the White House in 2024,” she added. “This is my focus, nothing else.”
Her removal from the HFC comes after some of her conservative colleagues disapproved of her her support for Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for the House Speaker role, and his recent debt ceiling deal with Democrat President Joe Biden.
- The HFC’s meeting to vote on Greene’s removal also came just days after calling fellow Caucus member Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a “little b” on the House floor.
“The vote was taken to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Freedom Caucus for some of the things she’s done,” a member of Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters in the Capitol on July 6, according to NBC. “…The way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members.”
The Caucus formed in 2015 during Democrat President Barack Obama’s administration in a call for what it called on its Twitter account: “open, accountable & limited government; the Constitution and the rule of law; and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans.”
According to Politico, dynamics of the group appear to have shifted from its original intent.
In an April 2022 article, Politico said it interviewed more than 40 Republicans — including 30 lawmakers, 16 of them in the Freedom Caucus —and majority of them indicated the shift of the GOP during Donald Trump’s presidency also resulted in the same for the HFC, “becoming more populist and nationalist, but less bound by policy principles.”
Speculation remains as to whether HFC vote was successful due to the sudden nature of the meeting and allegations that all members were not notified.
However, it wouldn’t be the first time Taylor Greene was removed from a congressional group.
In April 2021, the House of Representatives in voted 230-199 to remove Greene from her House Education and Labor Committee and Budget Committee committee assignments. That vote included a favorable vote from all Democrats and 11 Republicans.
Known for her controversial statements, the vote came after comments she made in endorsing the Trump-related QAnon conspiracy theory, and claiming the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. and some school shootings were not real.
Taylor Greene was restored to her committee roles after Republicans gained the House majority following the 2022 elections. She was overwhelmingly elected to her first full House term in November 2022 with 66% of the votes cast; In November 2020, she won the Northwest Georgia district seat through a special election to fill the vacancy.